Original Pete Dye strategy maintained by player advisor Davis Love III; Upgrading agricultural infrastructure guarantees competition conditions all year round
After being closed for a six-month restoration project, Harbor Town Golf Links, currently No. 27 on Golf Digest’s Top 100 Public Golf Courses in the U.S. and No. 5 on the Best Golf Courses in South Carolina list, has reopened.
Harbor Town Golf Links, originally designed by famed architect Pete Dye with his wife Alice, and assisted by Jack Nicklaus, has been home to the PGA TOUR’s RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing since its opening in 1969. It is also widely regarded as one of Dye’s best and most iconic creations, one of the first masterpieces of his long and brilliant career. TOUR players and amateur golfers, including resort guests and members, also enjoy it.
Serving as player advisor for the project was major championship winner and PGA TOUR legend Davis Love III, a five-time RBC Heritage winner at Harbor Town Golf Links. Love is intimately familiar with the region and the complexities of working here: He grew up on the coastal islands of the Southeast and his company, Love Golf Design, designed another course at The Sea Pines Resort, Atlantic Dunes by Davis Love III.
From the beginning of the project, Love and the team responsible for the restoration, including Allan MacCurrach of MacCurrach Golf Construction; Jon Wright, Superintendent of Golf, Harbor Town Golf Links; John Farrell, director of sports operations; The Riverstone Group, owner of The Sea Pines Resort; and others – were determined to, as Love said, “protect the strategy and integrity of Pete’s design.”
“We feel very fortunate to own such a historic and popular PGA TOUR tournament venue at Harbor Town Golf Links,” said Matthew Goodwin, representative of The Riverstone Group. “We are fully committed to maintaining the golf course to the highest possible standard, whilst maintaining Pete Dye’s original design integrity.”
Originally intended as an update to the course’s infrastructure to ensure championship quality conditions all year round, it also provided an opportunity to restore many features of Dye’s original design and ensure one of the country’s most recognizable layouts stands the test of time. In addition to improvements to agronomy and maintenance, all greens, bunkers and bulkheads were rebuilt. The grass type: TifEagle on the greens; Celebration Bermuda on the fairways, tees and rough remains the same.
As for the design changes, even the experienced Harbor Town Golf Links player will have difficulty spotting them, Farrell explains. “Every ‘change’ we made included documentation, images or video of how it was before.” Updates include returning some greens to their original shape, returning some hole locations that were lost as surfaces became smaller over time. The same goes for some bunker work on the green, which no longer abutted the greens due to years of play and downsizing.
Farrell added that while Love offered the expertise of a TOUR player, he was aligned with management’s desire to keep the course fun, exciting and challenging during the remaining 51 weeks of the year when resort guests, property owners and locals celebrate.
For more information about The Sea Pines Resort, visit www.seapines.com.
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